The present invention relates to a percussionist's towel. Percussionists can be called upon to play multiple different instruments during a single evening, including, for example, various forms of drums, kettledrums, timpani, xylophone, marimba, triangle, chimes, gongs, cymbals, and others. With some exceptions such as the conga or maracas, most of these instruments involve striking a surface with a hand-held striking device. Different types of striking devices are used for different instruments. For example, one would not normally use the same striking device on both a snare drum and a timpani, chime, or xylophone. These striking devices are typically called drumsticks, mallets, brushes, and the like. Indeed, a percussionist might use different sizes of mallets during a single performance and may use other striking devices also. Some striking devices have a felt head while others may have a hard plastic striking head. Sometimes wood or metal is used, depending on the sound that the percussionist, conductor, or composer wishes to obtain.
Not only must all of these various striking devices be transported to the performance venue, but they must also be available on demand to the percussionist. Additionally, the percussionist must eliminate extraneous sounds when changing from one striking device to another. That is, he or she must quietly place one (or a pair) of devices down and pick up another.
One prior art approach is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,687,699 by Briggs and Veepuisis, assigned to Silclear Limited. That patent teaches a holder for drum sticks, drum brushes, mallets and other percussion implements. The holder comprises a plurality of substantially parallel tubular sleeves, each joined to one or more adjacent sleeve(s), and having an entrance dimensioned to receive just one drum stick. The sleeves are made of an elastomeric material to grip the inserted drum stick. The device can be mounted on a tripod stand.
Another approach is akin to an arrow quiver and provides a generally tubular structure with an open top and closed bottom for holding several drumsticks. Such a holder may be tapered, and it can be mounted to a drum set or other percussion instrument.
Yet another approach provides a customized towel to be placed on a music stand and draped over the front lip or ledge of the music stand so that part of the towel resides on the flat portion of the music stand and part of it drapes over the front of the music stand. The part of the towel hanging over the lip may support three or four side-by-side pockets to hold mallets, drumsticks, or other striking devices of different sizes. The broad, flat part sitting upon the flat portion of the music stand can be used to hold illustratively one or two of a cymbal, tambourine, cowbell, triangle, or other comparatively small percussion instrument.
By far the most widely-used approach by professional percussionists for holding a variety of percussion striking devices is far simpler and involves fashioning a makeshift trap table by placing a towel (usually black or dark) upon a standard, black wrinkle steel, telescoping orchestral music stand. Percussionists have frequently re-purposed such music stands, readily available to the orchestra or band, as a mallet and drumstick table, simply by rotating the head of the music stand so that its major flat surface becomes substantially horizontal and the lip becomes substantially vertical. This provides a generally horizontal surface with a small upstanding lip along one edge, typically the front edge relative to the percussionist. Further, percussionists have commonly placed a towel on top of the music stand flat surface to act as a sound deadening device to muffle or mute the sound that would otherwise be made when placing the mallet onto the generally metallic music stand.
When using this latter approach, a common and dreaded problem is that striking members are usually rounded and thus apt to roll when set upon an inclined surface or when given sufficient impetus. That can occur if the music stand is kicked, hit, or jostled inadvertently. Once the striking devices begin to roll, they often roll off the towel and off the “table” (music stand), crashing on the floor, generating highly noticeable extraneous sound, audience distraction and disapprobation, recording problems, and excessive embarrassment.
The present invention provides an improved percussion towel to place upon a music stand conscripted to that use or on another flat table for holding percussive striking devices.